


Love (I still believe in You)

by Daughter_of_the_TARDIS



Series: The Space Wives Collection [17]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Anniversary, F/F, Fluff, Married Couple, Old Married Couple, Slice of Life, Space Wives, TARDIS life, happy anniversary to the married idiots who took over my life, so is River, thirteen is smitten
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23791390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daughter_of_the_TARDIS/pseuds/Daughter_of_the_TARDIS
Summary: They just stared - while it was a blonde who opened the door, this woman was definitely not the Doctor.  She wore an oversized, well-worn t-shirt advertising a band called the Dreamboys that looked like it had belonged to a man at some point, and not much else.  Her hair was a mess of riotous honey-golden curls that spilled over her shoulders, and her shirt clung to her curves.  There was a hint of steel in her green eyes as she stared them down.“Can I help you?” the woman asked, no small threat in her voice.
Relationships: The Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor/River Song
Series: The Space Wives Collection [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2080728
Comments: 15
Kudos: 251





	Love (I still believe in You)

Earth was boring.

That wasn’t quite true. Earth was exciting, and full of adventures if you knew what to look for. But normal, everyday, beans-on-toast life wasn’t as exciting as it had once been - for any of them. Especially not Yasmin Khan. She had become a police officer to help people. It just seemed to be a lot easier to help people when they were going from planet to planet, saving people. Not stuck on Earth, handing out parking tickets.

She caught a flash of blue out of the corner of her eye, and stopped. Yasmin Khan blinked, then rubbed at her eyes, not believing what she was seeing. It had been months since they had seen the Doctor - no texts, no phone calls, no cryptic messages appearing on the backs of cereal boxes. Nothing to even let them know that she was alive.

Yaz checked her phone - she needed to hurry if she wanted to make it to meet Ryan and Graham in time. But they would forgive her if she was late because of this. She was sure of it. All that she wanted to do was make sure that it really was the TARDIS - she wouldn’t even go inside without the others.

She didn’t have anywhere else she needed to be, so she waited outside the ship while sending a text to Ryan and Graham. And if she kept an eye on the box the entire time… well that was just for her own peace of mind, wasn’t it.

“Got your text.” Ryan called out, grabbing her attention. He and Graham were walking over, smiles on their faces. “What’s happenin’?”

Yaz laughed, excited. She gestured towards the blue box, already moving towards it. “Take a look.” They had spent months waiting for their friend to come back - now that she had, Yasmin didn’t want to waste a single second.

Ryan looked over, but did a double-take. A wide grin spread across his face. “No way.” he laughed.

Even Graham was in shock. “She’s back.” his voice was soft, filled with relief. 

“Yeah.” Yaz was excited. “Come on, let’s go.” 

They moved to the ship, knocking once before trying to open the front door. But the doors to the TARDIS were locked, something that had never happened before. No matter where they went, no matter who or what was chasing after them, the doors of the strange blue box were always open to the Doctor’s friends. But something about this time was different. 

So they kept knocking, and waited.

8888

River Song smirked at the sight in front of her. When she had heard that there was a new prisoner in Stormcage, she had been intrigued. But when they had caused more trouble in three days time than she could cause in a month, she had been impressed.

Who else could it have been, she mused, but the Doctor. 

Now she sat at the kitchen table on the TARDIS, watching her wife - and hadn’t that been a surprise - making her breakfast. It had been almost a month of traveling together for the couple, leading up to a celebration that they could technically have on any day of the year. Still, every April twenty-second, they celebrated. Like clockwork. It was their day, throughout all of history.

They had parked somewhere the night before - neither of them were sure where. They both had far more pressing matters to deal with at the time. It didn’t help that last night was the first night of sleep that either of them had gotten in far too long. It had worried River when she came in to find her wife still wearing her last incarnation’s jammies. That was when she admitted that she hadn’t slept once since she had regenerated. It hadn’t taken long to find something that her wife liked, that she would be comfortable to sleep in. The Doctor had curled up behind River - I’m still the big spoon, she had argued - both of them in their pajamas. 

She had woken up to tea in bed, something that she wasn’t quite used to. From the look on the Doctor’s face when she asked about it, though, it would be a habit in the future. One that she looked forward to.

There had been lots of little moments like that since she had saved her wife from solitary confinement - little things that pointed to many promising days ahead. Little touches and gestures that seemed like second nature to the other woman once she had gotten used to doing them again. How she always knew when River was ready for a cuppa, and was already starting on making it. It was lovely.

“River!” 

She startled slightly, being pulled out of her thoughts. “Yes, sweetie?”

“I’ve been calling you for three minutes, Riv. Can you get the door?” the Doctor asked, not looking up from the omelets that she was trying to make. The keyword, of course, was trying. It seemed that they were both bad cooks this time around, although the Doctor had yet to actually set anything on fire. Because of that, she had been given the task of making food. “Could’ve sworn I heard someone knockin’.”

River nodded, moving over to the stove so she could press a kiss to her wife’s cheek before leaving. And if the kiss made the Doctor blush the brightest she had seen in a while - well, that was just an unexpected bonus. 

River made her way through the halls of the timeship, her hand trailing over the walls. The console room wasn’t far away - just a few corridors down and two to the right. It was nice, this sitting around, in a way. She couldn’t remember the last time that she and her spouse had taken time like this. To just take some time off and enjoy the universe around them. It was strange, but in a good way. But she could tell that it was about to come to an end - not even she could tie the Doctor down indefinitely.

She heard a knock at the door, and picked up her pace. “I’m coming… honestly, you’d think we were under attack.” she paused, looking up at the ceiling. “We’re not under attack, are we?” the Old Girl’s reply was negative, and so River continued to the door. She pulled it open, leaning against the doorway as she inspected the people standing there. 

“Can I help you?”

8888

They just stared - while it was a blonde who opened the door, this woman was definitely not the Doctor. She wore an oversized, well-worn t-shirt advertising a band called the Dreamboys that looked like it had belonged to a man at some point, and not much else. Her hair was a mess of riotous honey-golden curls that spilled over her shoulders, and her shirt clung to her curves. There was a hint of steel in her green eyes as she stared them down.

“Can I help you?” the woman asked, no small threat in her voice. While it was almost hidden behind a layer of sweetness, they had heard the Doctor do the same trick far too many times to be fooled by it. She leaned against the doorframe like she had been stationed there.

It only took them a moment to recollect themselves - a mystery woman was by far one of the most normal things that they had seen since starting to travel with the Doctor. But the fact that she was on the TARDIS was more than a little worrying for the Doctor’s friends. 

“We’re looking for the Doctor…?” Ryan asked - the first of them to regain control of themselves. 

The woman rolled her eyes. “I assumed so, unless we managed to land in the nineteen fifties. Again.” she moved out of the doorway, gesturing for them to come inside. “Come in, she should still be in the kitchen. I’ll assume you know the way.” She turned away from them, walking towards the other side of the console room.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes - just need to slip into something a bit more comfortable.”

8888

They made their way through the ship, following the familiar path that they knew so well. Too many mornings had been spent walking the same path while half-asleep, trying to get to the first cup of tea. The kitchen was full of pots and pans, the smell of burnt eggs prominent. “I think I’ve gotten it figured out, Riv.” she said, not looking up from what she was doing. “Give me about five more minutes.”

The Doctor looked the opposite of her normal self. Her hair was damp and wavy, hanging slightly in her face. She didn’t have any shoes on her feet, and was dressed in a matching pajama set. It was almost adorable, in a way - but at the same time the strangest thing that any of her friends had ever seen. In all the time that they had known her, they had never seen her in anything other than her iconic coat, let alone resembling pajamas.

“Doc!” Graham greeted, following the others as they made their way into the kitchen.

She looked up from the pan, smiling in surprise. “Hiya, fam! What’re you doin’ here?” her face scrunched up, her eyes darting between them all as she paused. “Where’s River?”

Yaz shrugged, still not sure as to who the other woman was. “She said she was goin’ to get dressed.” she told her. “Why wasn’t she wearing any trousers?”

The spatula clattered in the pan as she dropped it. “What d’you mean…” her eyes moved to someone standing behind them, and her face softened. None of them had ever seen that expression on her face before - it was soft and besotted, like she knew that this woman held the answers to everything she could ever need to know. But when she spoke, her confusion was clear. “Riv, you didn’t have trousers on?”

River rolled her eyes, sitting back down at the kitchen table. “Yes, because I expected your friends to be on the other side of the door, my love.” she replied, resting her chin on her hand. “Besides, I seem to remember someone complaining the last time I tried to put some on.”

The Doctor did something that none of her friends has seen before - she blushed. It covered her cheeks, going up to her ears. “Yes, well… tea?” she asked, trying to hide behind her hair. It was adorable, in a way. They acted like an old married couple, almost.

River nodded, pushing a curl out of her face and tucking it back behind her ear. “Thank you, sweetie.” she said, nodding. 

“Good - can you make me one too?” the Doctor asked, cracking a smile. River laughed, low in her throat. But she got up from the table, making her way over to the kettle. She started the kettle going, leaning against the counter as she waited for it to boil.

“Mind introducing us?” Yaz asked. She was watching the pair interact with each other, a small smile on her face.

“Right.” the Doctor nodded, a small smile on her face. “Riv, this is Ryan, Yaz, and Graham.” she began the introductions. “Fam, this is Doctor River Song, my wife.” River smiled at them all, nodding at each of them.

“You’re married.”

“Yup.” the Doctor nodded, plating the breakfast that she had made for the two of them. Behind her, the kettle boiled, and River poured. “That’s my wife. Isn’t she brilliant?” she asked, watching as the other woman made her way to the table with mugs for the both of them in hand.

The other woman laughed, shaking her head. “They’ve just met me, sweetie.” she pointed out, taking a sip of her tea. “Give them a minute to decide for themselves what they think of me.”

The Doctor shook her head, already knowing what her friends would think. “They’ll love you.” She made her way to the table, placing one of the plates in front of River before sitting down next to her. “Here you go.”

Her wife leaned across the table, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Thank you, sweetie.” 

Graham looked incredulous. “You let the Doctor cook?” The last time that they had let that happen, she had created a giant green monster that ate half of the kitchen and two loads of laundry before they managed to stop it.

But River just grinned. “She does a better job than I do.” she admitted. The humans were all concerned - they hadn’t thought it possible to be worse than the Doctor.

But Yaz was stuck on something else. “So is this where you’ve been all this time?” she asked, looking at her friend. “In an alley?”

The Doctor looked up from her plate, not even noticing when her free hand moved to intertwine with River’s. “What?” she asked, face scrunching as she shook her head. “No.” 

“Then where were you?” Ryan asked, speaking up as well. His arms were crossed over his chest, trying to hide his hurt. “We were worried about you. You were gone for months.”

“Really, was it that long?” the Doctor asked, looking shocked. Her eyes unfocused slightly as she tried to figure out what the problem was. “There must be something wrong with the thermocouplings again. Or maybe the helmic regulator…” River watched her wife in fond exasperation as the other woman was sucked into the world of TARDIS maintenance. “if I just pull the axiomater out, and run it through the multi-loop stabiliser… attach that to the helmic regulator...”

“Doctor!” Ryan called out, pulling her back to Earth.

“What?”

River laughed again - despite the interruption, it was still good to see her spouse in their element. This was where she belonged, with her friends by her side and solving mysteries. Even if this mystery was just why they were late. “They’re trying to figure out where you’ve been, sweetie.”

“It wasn’t my driving this time.” she shot back almost automatically, and River had to work to keep from giggling at the looks on her friends’ faces. This was an argument that they had been having for centuries by now - it wasn’t going to be resolved anytime soon. “Oh, right. I was in prison - Stormcage, actually.” 

“What?”

“Remember?” the Doctor asked, looking confused. “I told you about Stormcage before.” she turned to her wife, a small smile on her face as she got ready to explain. “We ran into someone from Stormcage in Alabama, 1955. Met Rosa Parks! She was brilliant, you would have loved her.”

“We remember that.” Yaz rolled her eyes, cutting off the Doctor mid-explanation. “I think we were all just wonderin' why you were in prison.”

Her friend grinned, looking just a little bit sheepish. “That’s a long story that I still don’t completely know the answer to.” she admitted, her eyes widening slightly when she saw that her words didn’t reassure her friends like she had meant for them to do. “But it’s okay, I’m out now! So we decided to celebrate.” 

River took a sip of her tea, quirking an eyebrow. “But everytime she tried to take us somewhere, it ended with running -” she teased.

“I said I was sorry!”

River continued as though she hadn’t been interrupted. “- so, we decided for a quiet night in instead.”

“An’ how’s that going?” Graham asked, a knowing look on his face. Out of all of the Doctor’s current companions, he was definitely the most likely to ask for a break. And while she always tried, it was rare that he actually got it.

But River just smiled, looking faintly surprised despite herself. “Quite well, actually.”

8888

River started to get into a conversation about their misadventures while the Doctor got up from the table, heading back over to the kettle. Graham followed her, determined to ask some questions of his own without anyone else butting in.

He leaned against the counter next to her, watching the others as she made a fresh cup. “So… you’ve got a wife.” he began, somewhat awkwardly.

“Yeah.” she said, not looking up from her cup. But her smile gave her away - it lit up her entire face, despite being halfway hidden behind a curtain of hair. “Isn’t she great?”

“She’s definitely not what I expected.” he said, choosing his words carefully. “Didn’t think you’d be married at all, to be honest.”

But the Doctor just shrugged, a small smile on her face as she watched her wife talking with her friend. “I love her. I’ve been alive for thousands of years, Graham. And I’ve loved many people in that time.” she explained, her face shutting off slightly as she talked. Reconstructing the masks that she had let fall in the past month spent with his wife. “But River… she’s different. She understands me in a way that no one else really does. She… she makes me better. And somehow, everytime I think it’s over, she’s there. Knocking on the door, ready for an adventure and stealing the stars.”

Graham smiled. “I get that, Doc. Really.” and he did. It was the same way he always felt about Grace, that she had made him so much better than he was just by existing. But he had wanted to introduce everyone he ever met to Grace, not keep her hidden. But watching the two of them together - it was obvious that she wasn’t trying to hide the woman. “How come we’ve never met her before?” he asked.

Her face fell. “That’s… complicated.” she replied, her voice quiet. “And if you don’t mind, I’d really like to not talk about it.”

“Sorry if we ruined your celebration, Doc.” Graham apologized. “What was it for?”

The Doctor shook her head, smiling at something her wife had said to Ryan. “You didn’t ruin it - River always likes to know who I’m traveling with, make sure that they can take care of me. You should have seen how she scared Clara back then.” she snorted.

That gave him more questions than answers, but he also knew that she was very unlikely to answer any of them. “But what were you celebratin’?” Graham asked again.

“Our anniversary.” with that said, she picked up both mugs of tea that she had made, carrying them both over to her wife. She sat in the chair next to the other woman, pressed close enough together that their sides were touching despite the amount of space left at the table. River pressed a kiss to her cheek in thanks, and they both grinned, holding hands under the table.

Graham smiled, shaking his head as he moved over to the table to join them all. This was his life now - celebrating the anniversary of a couple that had been together for centuries, and would maybe have centuries more ahead of them.

None of them - especially not River and the Doctor - would have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> It's been awhile, but Happy Anniversary to our favorite time-travellers! I've been in this fandom for almost seven years now, and The Wedding of River Song is an episode that I've seen so often I can quote it from memory. But no matter what, these two idiots give me hope.
> 
> Thanks to Hihereami for beta work!
> 
> Please Review!


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